..but if you lie about it, and get caught, you are subject to large fines and/or prison time
Can not possibly be true, can it? Welcome to PPRuNE.
Let's ask Timothy Geithner about his non-payment of the self employment taxes while working for the IMF. Certainly no large fines nor any prison time; not even penalties.
Then there is Charlie Rangell; where does one start? Just to scrach the surface how about the Harlem apartments, Congressional parking/storage for his Benz and the rental income off his Dominican Villa? Large fines, threat of prison -no possible way!
Oh wait.....maybe I am wrong.....in the land of "equal justice for all". I get it if some pilot doesn't report then the heavy hand of the law comes down. But for the politically connected the same laws do not apply. The sand pit, the steamy humidity of the DRC or the air-conditioned marble halls of Washington DC, the largest debtor nation on the planet, the corruption, hypocrisy and decay is the same.